Inter Fire Blanks In The Champions League

It feels like Inter are cursed to struggle and score goals in the Champions League. Two games played and 0 goals scored but yet are the top scorers in Serie A. Another game against Shakhtar Donestk and another goalless draw. To be honest, it's more our doing than a curse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-xT_xg7mfE

Difference Between This Season & Last

The difference between this match and the two matches we played last season was that Shakhtar played better this morning compared to last season. They passed the ball better, kept possession longer and threatened more. They had good technical and fast players and made good use of them. Roberto De Zerbi used his in-depth knowledge of Inter to set his team up tactically to dominate us.

Poor Performance From Inter

Inter played better in the first half than we did in the second but overall, a poor performance. In the second half, we struggled to keep possession, hardly mustered anything going forward and couldn’t pass the ball well. It was worrying to see. In the last two league matches, we have faced spells where we were outplayed but we always found a response. Today, we had no response at all and ran a real risk of losing our second Champions League match in a row. In terms of performance, it was a far cry from the one we saw against Real Madrid or the ones last season against the same team.

Profligacy Of Inter

The constant from last season is our profligacy in front of goal. Edin Dzeko had an incredible miss in the first half and Lautaro Martinez had one in the second half. Both strikers struggled to get the ball to stick as their first touch let them down. We paid a heavy price for profligacy in the first match against Real Madrid but thankfully didn’t do so here although I would argue that we deserved to lose this match more than against Real. Nicolo Barella was unlucky to see his shot crash off the bar. It was also incredible that it took us until the last 10 minutes to have our first shots on target.

Skriniar, The Wall

There were not many good performances especially in midfield and attack but Milan Skriniar continued his colossal form from the first Champions League match against Real. The Slovakian defender deservingly won the Man Of The Match award. Samir Handanovic had hardly anything to do in goal because, for all of Shakthar’s probing, they were denied by Inter’s defence and their lack of accuracy in front of goal.

Worried About Recent Performances

I am getting worried about the performances seemingly on a downward spiral. It does appear like a defeat is around the corner if we don’t pick up on our performances.

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